Former President John Dramani Mahama has told the Managing Director of the State Transport Corporation (STC) Nana Akomea that he misinformed the public on the ex-gratia statement that he Mr Mahama had earlier made, as a result of politics.
Mr Mahama had promised to initiate processes to scrap the ex-gratia payment should he win the 2024 general elections.
He said “The payments of ex gratia to members of the Executive under Article 71will be scrapped And the necessary constitutional steps to abolish that payment will start in earnest in 2025… persuading the other arms of government other than the Executive to accept the removal of these ex gratia members.”
But Nana Akomea, a former Member of Parliament for Okaikwei South, while speaking on Peace FM’s ‘Kokrokoo’ programme, said Mr Mahama should not take the subsequent payments that will be made to him if indeed he believes in his own promise to scrap the payment.
He said: “So, you, President Mahama, today if you claim you don’t believe in the ex-gratia, the ones that you have taken, we know that you have spent it already, so we can’t say that go and bring it…but the challenge I am giving to him is that the ones that he will be taking from this month May, he shouldn’t take it, he should stop taking the ex-gratia, the same way Togbe Afede stopped and returned his own, he should follow the same principle.”
But replying him, Mr Mahama said “My friend Nana Akomea. I did not insult you. I know you know the difference between a lump sum ex-gratia payment and a monthly pension. Why you chose to misinform the public was because of politics.”
My friend Nana Akomea. I did not insult you. I know you know the difference between a lump sum ex-gratia payment and a monthly pension. Why you chose to misinform the public was because of politics.
— John Dramani Mahama (@JDMahama) May 29, 2023